A Dutch Life

My first experience of true beer is one I will never forget….

I started drinking beer professionally at about 18, before that I had tried it, but due to an internal philosophical debate convinced myself that it was not a nice beverage and decided to call drinking it experimentation. This however did not deter my natural beer mentor, Dad, from gently encouraging me to explore the amber liquid, nudging me as if I were learning to ride a bike or jump in a swimming pool for the first time. The fridge in our house was always full of many flavours, a result of Dad’s keen pursuit of the bargain. In fact if there were a second hand market for Beer, I’m sure our fridge would have become a “beer market” clearing house. What this did mean however was that I got to try a variety of brands including West End, Victoria Bitter and even Southwark.

So it was with these humble beginnings that I chose my first preferred beer, shuddering now, it was the “Coldee” or for those unaccustomed, the “Carlton Cold”. While it may seem today to be a choice entirely lacking in style and sophistication, I would like to point out that at the time, it was the beer for young lads, popping up at music festivals (in plastic half litre bottles) and all the best gigs (I drank it watching You Am I for example).

I stuck with the “Coldee” for at least two years, sadly years I will never get back, failing to venture from its safe clear bottle for fear of loosing the fragile taste for beer I had developed. I was secure in its inoffensive, conservative flavour and reassured of its cool by glitzy adverts. Sadly I could know no better.

One day that all changed, a deeper desire awakened within me and my life has never been the same…

To be continued….